Ferran Adrìa Likes the Rolling Stones, and Is Way Busier Than You

July 27, 2011

El Bulli is closing in three days, and now that the documentary’s been made, the staff meal has been eulogized, and the last of the “I-ate-at-El-Bulli-and-everyone-else-can-suck-it” “articles” have been written (we hope), the media is wringing its last few drops out of the storied Spanish restaurant/temple of molecular gastronomy (or whatever it’s called these days)/notch on the food-snob belt.

And so GQ has published an exit interview with Adria, but it’s one that is comprised almost entirely of direct quotes. And this is nice, because he’s got a lot of interesting things to say. Among the things you may not have known about the chef are that he doesn’t have time to read books, except when he’s on the beach; he’s a Tarantino fan; he’s not a materialist and “hates things that can be exploited”; he doesn’t own a car; he’s passionate about fútbol (or soccer to us American philistines); and he’s a Rolling Stones kind of guy.

And for everyone who wants to know what’s next, there’s this:

Right now I’m writing three books. The first is called The Family Meal. The second is El Bulli 2005-2011, which is 3,000 pages. This book is the last part of a project that is the catalogue of the restaurant, and since the restaurant is closing, this is the last part. The last book includes 50,000 photos and documents, and it’s a collection of images from the entire restaurant’s history. I’m going to release two versions of it — one will be digital, and the other will be a coffee-table book.

In other words, Modernist Cuisine is going to look like a pamphlet, and it doesn’t appear that Adrìa will be spending a lot of time by the beach drinking frozen margaritas.

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